Marco Simoni

Marco Simoni is the Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali and Professor of Practice in European Political Economy at Luiss University in Rome.
He holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and a Ph.D. in Political Economy from the London School of Economics, where he began his academic career and was awarded tenure in 2014. His research focuses on European and comparative economic governance, economic policy, comparative capitalism and industrial policy.
Between 2014 and 2018, Simoni served as Economic Advisor to Italian Prime Ministers Matteo Renzi and Paolo Gentiloni. He was responsible for international economic relations, trade and investment policy, as well as industrial policy dossiers with international relevance.
From 2018 to 2022, he was the founding President of the Human Technopole Foundation, Italy’s flagship life sciences research centre. Under his leadership, the institute evolved from concept to operation: from zero staff and facilities to a fully functional research campus, equipped with state-ofthe-art laboratories and hosting researchers and staff from 25 countries.
Simoni also held other senior leadership roles, including Chairman of the Board of Directors of EUR S.p.A. (a state-owned asset management company) and board member and Chair of the Scenarios and Sustainability Committee at SACE S.p.A., the Italian Export Credit Agency. He currently serves on the boards of public and private institutions in finance, technology and research, and advises private companies in the fields of finance, artificial intelligence, energy and proptech. His op-eds appear regularly in Italian media, and his expertise is frequently cited by leading international media.